There was a time, not that long ago, when everyone had to go to the DMV once a year. Before "Renew for 2" and the vast expansion of online services, anyone of modest means with a registered vehicle and/or a driver's license had no other option of renewing than to head to the nearest service center and get in that looooooooong line.
But what a place for people watching! There was always a generous cross section of your town there-- teenagers taking tests and getting their permits, people picking up plates for a new car, folks moving in from other states who needed a new license, and the rest of us conducting mundane requisite renewals.
Friends, I'm here to report that that world still exists! It is much more organized now, with a check-in counter where you get the forms you need and a service number, and a lot of chairs to sit in while you wait to be called. And at 2 PM on a Thursday, it was a little more like an airport gate in between flights, but down by the old drive-in window, long since closed, there was still a lot of excitement as kids were tested and photographed. And up by me, there was still a lot of confusion, because bureaucracy is a live and well.
In the time it took me to retitle the car we first leased and then purchased, I heard a taxi driver begging for a new license, and I smelled a guy, who practically floated in a cloud of weed, get his license, and I saw a family from New Hampshire get their new Virginia licenses, too. I also heard about a former DMV employee who was issuing refunds in to incarcerated people and having them sent to her own address, and I was reminded that this was the service center where several of the hijackers on 9-11 got their licenses, too.
As she handed me my new plates, the agent reminded me that from now on, I could just renew online. My license expires in six years, though. I wonder what I'll see then?
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